Ballad of Fallen Angels
"Ballad of Fallen Angels" is the fifth session, or episode, of Cowboy Bebop. Credits Written by: * Michiko Yokote Cast: *Spike Spiegel *Jet Black *Faye Valentine *Vicious *Mao Yenrai *Annie *Carlos *Violinist *Attendant *Bodyguard 1 *Bodyguard 2 *Child 1 *Child 2 Cast (uncredited): *Ein *Julia (in flashback) Animation Director * Toshihiro Kawamoto Mechanical Animation Director * Masami Goto Plot Mao Yenrai, Capo of the Red Dragon crime syndicate, and Carlos of the White Tiger crime syndicate meet at Mao's high rise to sign a truce agreement. They are both tired of the bloodshed that has affected their rival organizations. After they sign the deal, Carlos expresses his satisfaction and leaves with his group. Mao watches them leave, expressing his satisfaction, however, the ship explodes. Vicious, a member of the Red Dragon syndicate, and his henchmen burst into the room and kill everyone but Mao. Mao states the futility of his treachery, but Vicious doesn't respond. He then uses a sword, his weapon of choice, to kill Mao. Before he collapses, Mao intimates that Spike could have prevented this. To this, Vicious pauses and smiles. Jet and Spike find a new 28 million Woolong bounty is placed on Mao Yenrai for an unknown crime. Spike is ready to go after a lead they have but Jet is worried about the bounty and thinks Spike is hiding something he knows about Mao. Spike doesn't confirm this and, instead, asks Jet how he lost his arm, to which Jet doesn't respond, confronting him on its relevance. In the middle of this, Faye arrives from shopping and tries to join the conversation but is told to stay out of their business. Spike decides to pursue his own leads and leaves the room with Jet yelling after him. As he takes off in the Swordfish II, Jet yells over the communications that he won't be responsible for him, but Spike, not skipping a beat, is all right with that. Faye continues to read the bounty information and teases them about having a fight, but Jet turns the display off, calling her obnoxious and leaves the room. He digs more into the bounty information, but finds suspicious information. Faye, however, sees a video signal comes into the computer with a new lead on the bounty, and she answers the call. The lead takes her to an opera house where she can find Mao Yenrai at his box seat. She is dressed for the formal occasion, and passes herself off as Mao's date, not needing a ticket. She finds Mao's opera box, but, oddly, she's told she was expected and feels a gun in her back. Furthermore, the men know who she is, having done a background check and have the keys to her ship. She's told to sit through the opera performance. She looks over and, horrified, sees Mao's corpse. She also meets Vicious. Eyecatch Spike, meanwhile, goes to see Annie, an old comrade from the Red Dragon. Now, she runs a shop and runs into Spike while chasing kids who stole something from the shop. She's horrified to see Spike, as she thought he died three years prior. She tells him what happened to Mao, fully aware of how Spike will react – by going after Vicious. She pours a drink for Mao, which Spike snags for himself. She also gives Spike a gun and bullets while realizing there's no point in dissuading him from engaging Vicious. Back on the Bebop, Spike retrieves grenades and more guns. Jet tells Spike that Faye is off following whatever she thinks is a lead for the bounty. He also tells him he's walking into a trap – that Mao is already dead. Spike calmly says he already knows, but he has a debt to pay off. Jet decides to relate that he lost his arm by being headstrong, but Spike is resolute. Faye then calls in to the computer's video phone to ask them to rescue her from Vicious. Jet wants to leave her to her own situation, but Spike agrees, saying it's not for her. Vicious waits for Spike at a Cathedral. After a few brief words where Vicious explains he killed Mao for "losing his fangs," Spike hears Faye and draws his weapon. Her captor orders him to drop the gun, but is instead promptly killed by a bullet to the head. Spike then proceeds to kill the henchman and Faye escapes. Spike eventually races upstairs towards Vicious, killing people as he goes. On the stairs, Spike is hit, but he continues. He reaches a balcony next to a large stained-glass window where Vicious is hiding. They duel with gun and sword respectively, both drawing blood. At a quick stalemate, Vicious states that the same blood runs through them both, however, Spike says he's bled it all away. Enraged, Vicious ends the stalemate and they wound each other. Vicious then manages to grab Spike by the face and throw him through the window, but not before he deftly tossed a grenade behind him. As Spike falls to the ground, his former life flashes before his eyes mixed in with the grenade's explosion through the window. The images speak without context but show Spike fighting alongside Vicious; Vicious in bed with Julia, and Spike walking underneath Julia's window with a bouquet of red roses, which he uses as a cover for a gun to fight. Spike then recalls a memory where he is recovering from injuries at Julia's place, and she is humming. In the present, instead, Spike is awoken from the memory, injured and back on the Bebop. It's been three days, and Faye was the one humming. She says he should be grateful for her, but, instead, he tells her she is off-key, prompting Faye to smack him with a pillow and storm off. Quotes ---- Songs *Tank! (TV Edit) – Opening titles *Slipper Sleaze – Faye arrives at the opera house *Ave Maria – The opera performance *Waltz for Zizi – Annie's store *Rain – Spike confront Vicious at the cathedra *Green Bird – Spike's long fall *Piano Bar I – Faye's one-sided pillow fight with Spike *The Real Folk Blues – Closing titles *Spokey Dokey – Preview for Sympathy for the Devil Background Among the weapons Spike prepared for the fight was a Ruger P85. Themes and Motifs *Spike's Past: This Session plays heavily on Spike's unknown past and involvement with the Red Dragon crime syndicate. It is established that he once worked for Mao Yenrai, alongside Vicious and Julia, and possibly Annie. It is implied that Julia, Vicious and Spike were in a love triangle. It is not revealed in this session why Spike left the syndicate. *Jet's Past: Jet tells Spike that he got his cybernetic arm for being too gung-ho and running ahead of the game. The history of Jet's arm is revealed in "Black Dog Serenade". *Missed Bounty: Not collecting on Mao Yenrai's bounty is an example of the Bebop's crew missing bounties. Throughout the series they often either decide not to collect on a bounty or fail to collect. Homages and References *Pippu Cola is a soft drink modeled after Pepsi-Cola. Jet is seen drinking a can of it on the Bebop. *The opera scene is reminiscent of the 1976 film Marathon Man, in which Roy Scheider's character enters a private opera box to find his contact propped up in a chair with his throat slit. *The climatic shootout at the cathedral is a homage to a similar scene from John Woo's 1989 film The Killer. *At the end of the episode, when both Julia and Faye are humming, they hum a tune that might be homage to singer Sam Cooke humming "What Soul Represents". *In the signature scene in which Spike and Vicious exchange weapons, this references to a similar scene in the movie “A Better Tomorrow 2” by John Woo. *The Cathedral is visually inspired by the Notre Dame in Paris. *The porno magezine the kids steal from the store was altered. In the original version, the model was topless, but in the swim version, she had on a bra. In current airings, it is no longer edited. Gallery 5 Truce.png 5 AnnieShop.png 5 Faye3.png 5 Spike.png 5 ViciousSpike.png V011.jpg V013.jpg 53D280A93A0AE1002D.jpg 53D280A1371A260005.jpg 53D2810F3B055C0004.jpg 53D2810D381152003C.jpg 6G2v8FK.png 1sxJU1Q.jpg MTKEryB.png hqdefault (1).jpg n7E2xaL.png DQjl35IWAAcTPPx.jpg DQndEL8WAAAGuGm.jpg tumblr_oobufczubR1vfnvwlo1_1280.png tumblr_oobufczubR1vfnvwlo2_1280.png tumblr_oobufczubR1vfnvwlo3_1280.png tumblr_oobufczubR1vfnvwlo4_1280.png tumblr_oobufczubR1vfnvwlo5_1280.png tumblr_oobufczubR1vfnvwlo6_1280.png eb40a41ceaf2568dd27725a9d78eaafb.gif 53D27F0A394C240036.jpg 53D27F0A3973EF0002.jpg 53D27F0A39687C0011.jpg 53D27F0B394DF90034.jpg 53D27F0B3959B20023.jpg 53D27F0C394E6D0034.jpg 53D27F0C3959940023.jpg 53D27F0D34724B002E.jpg 53D27F113943BA0043.jpg 53D27F11396E230009.jpg 53D27FCA3708C30019.jpg 53D27F0E3470DC0031.jpg 53D27F09395AB00022.jpg 53D27F153834EC0004.jpg 53D27F103951110030.jpg 53D27FD3336EDA002A.jpg 53D27FD23301360015.jpg 53D280A53A7DB00036.jpg 53D280A53A1A970018.jpg 53D27FE03B5C630038.jpg 53D2810E3B6695002D.jpg 53D280A0370C310019.jpg 53D2809B37754A0034.jpg 53D280974D24B40035.jpg 53D280423719E20004.jpg 53D281133508FD0002.jpg 53D2809B3775B00035.jpg 53D2809C3568880026.jpg 53D27F0F3405E10016.jpg 53D27F0F347F19001E.jpg 53D27FD433652A003B.jpg c23136226da18fbd2129e527a6fff848.jpg x8.jpg 53D27FD03B7A48000E.jpg 53D280A43A25F00009.jpg 53D27FDE3B5AA3003A.jpg 53D27FD93A7E50003A.jpg 53D27FD93A0685002F.jpg 53D280A43A277C0007.jpg 53D280A1377E540020.jpg 53D27FDA3A11670020.jpg 53D280A53A21780010.jpg 53D280A73666760006.jpg 53D281103B04C00005.jpg 53D2804F4D4058000E.jpg 53D2804B4C68E2001F.jpg 53D281163C26400015.jpg 53D281143C2248001A.jpg 53D2804C4C791D0008.jpg 53D281173C183A0027.jpg 53D281163C2DA4000A.jpg 53D2804E4D2BDB002A.jpg 53D2804B4C6F210015.jpg 53D280524D3B370014.jpg 53D2804E4C5EC5002D.jpg 53D280604A1FCC0030.jpg 53D280474706B20013.jpg 53D280494C5FC1002C.jpg 53D280464713DE0003.jpg 53D28048477AD20022.jpg 53D28047476F0E0033.jpg 53D280454713780004.jpg 53D280454778220026.jpg 53D281133507F70003.jpg 53D28043370752001C.jpg 53D2810E3B70B3001E.jpg Cowboy_Bebop_Screenshot_0546.jpg Cowboy_Bebop_Screenshot_0572.jpg church window.jpg Cowboy_Bebop_Screenshot_0482.jpg Cowboy_Bebop_Screenshot_0247.jpg Cowboy_Bebop_Screenshot_0422.jpg Cowboy_Bebop_Screenshot_0492.jpg Cowboy_Bebop_Screenshot_0550.jpg Cowboy_Bebop_Screenshot_0495.jpg Cowboy_Bebop_Screenshot_0443 (1).jpg Sessions Category:Sessions